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Press Releases

Denver’s Metropolitan State College Builds on NetApp® Technology to Empower Students with Disabilities

University Moves to Virtualized Environment Thanks to NetApp Donation Program

SUNNYVALE, Calif. - June 19, 2012
-Metropolitan State College of Denver was facing two
critical IT challenges with its aging storage hardware-how to
replace that outdated hardware in the face of a 5% budget cut, and
how to better serve the needs of its students with disabilities at
the same time. The institution was struggling with the prospect of
purchasing a less-capable system with lower performance, as it
strove to support its 24,000 registered students and 4,000 faculty.
That was when Metro State officials heard about NetApp's Education
Donation program and applied online.

NetApp responded with the donation of a
FAS3170 series storage system that is optimized to work in a
virtualized environment, making it possible for students with
disabilities to do their classwork remotely. The FAS3170 system
offers flexibility, performance, availability, and responsiveness
to growth. In addition to providing the hardware, NetApp also
assisted with installation and configuration.

With the previous storage system, students
with disabilities who wanted to work on research, course work, and
assignments online had to come to the Metro State campus and hope
that a work station would be available through which they could
access the school's online resources. Once online, they typically
required assistance with configuring applications to digitize or
read books and publications for them. Often no terminal was
available, with a line of students waiting for the next available
station. Many students had to turn around and go home.

Metro State is building on a NetApp storage
foundation to give students the ability to roam and log in from any
location, offering a seamless session with storage in place. With
its virtualized desktop capabilities, students no longer have to
travel to the campus just to access the network. Building their IT
infrastructure on NetApp allows Metro State to go further, faster.
The school is implementing a pilot program with 50 students from
which it can conduct analytics for scaling the program to
accommodate a growing number of individuals.

"With the FAS3170 system, we will be able to
serve disabled students in ways that we couldn't have done before,"
said Kenneth Garcia, Metro State director of infrastructure
services. "NetApp is making this possible through its generous
donation and is also helping to implement the system to make sure
we are using it to its ultimate capacity."

Once Metro State's students with disabilities
are accommodated, the school plans to extend the capabilities to
all of its students and faculty.

"Educational institutions are facing a wide
variety of challenges when meeting the needs of their students,
constantly seeking out new and innovative ways to deliver advanced
learning opportunities under tight budgets," said Regina Kunkle,
vice president of State and Local Government and Higher Education,
NetApp. "Students with disabilities are an important part of the
school's population, but they were not being as well served with
the older technology. Through NetApp's Education Donation program,
we were able to upgrade Metro State's storage and offer an
effective solution to these students at the same time."

Discuss this news in the NetApp Community, where you can
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members. Join now at www.netapp.com/us/communities.

About NetApp
NetApp creates innovative storage and data management solutions
that deliver outstanding cost efficiency and accelerate business
breakthroughs. Discover our passion for helping companies around
the world go further, faster at www.netapp.com.

About Metropolitan State College of
Denver
With nearly 24,000 students, Metro State is Colorado's leader in
educating undergraduate Coloradans and enrolls the highest number
of students of color among the state's four-year colleges. The
College now offers master's degrees in accounting, teaching and
social work. It boasts nearly 72,000 alumni, the bulk of whom
remain in Colorado after graduation.

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